Thursday, April 30, 2009

Rome Seed fades but sowed plenty of crops


This article appeared in the 3/25/3 edition of the Rome News Tribune and was written by Maxine Fincher. Maxine is the wife of Kinney Fincher, who served Rome Seed in a number of capacities, including partial owner, for over 30 years. Maxine also worked at Rome seed for a period of time. The article was written as a farewell as Rome Seed was in its final month of business.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Robert Payne Videos

Below are some videos featuring my dad that I produced the year after he passed. Feel free to post your favorite memories of Robert Payne in the comments section below this post.

He launched his landscape architecture and site planning business out of Rome Seed in 1969, the year I was born, and later became President of the business soon after my grandfather, Spencer Diden, passed in 1987. He probably spent 34 years of his life with Rome Seed. He landscaped countless businesses and residences around Rome during those years. Each time I drive through Rome, I enjoy seeing trees I helped plant 25 years ago while working on his landscape crew.

I remember coming to the store as a kid and playing with the chicks and bunnies in the window, running around on the stacks of feed, making chains out of the bottle tops I collected from the soda machine, getting a candy bar from Mr. Pete in the old shop. As a teen, I worked summers in various roles, carrying out feed backs, stocking shelves, working on the landscape crew. I learned that working on Bert's crew was much easier than working on Tony's (but realized Tony's fast pace helped pay the bills). I learned how to drive a fork lift and work a hand truck piled high with 50-lb bags. I learned that dad, like his father-in-law, was very well-respected around Rome Seed.

I remember him as a man with a remarkable work ethic and a big heart. He poured all he had into his family, his work, his church, his community, and his friends. He would be there for you if you needed him. He would finish a 11 hour day at work and then head over to a friends house to help them build a deck. I'd give anything to play another round of golf with him, or stroll through my backyard and talk about landscaping and life. He was a great man and is dearly missed.

To view the videos, just click on the the link below and then wait for it to play (should start playing eventually without you having to click the play button). You may have to wait a little while depending on the speed of your connection, as these are rather large files. There are also options available to download the video to your computer for viewing.